The present invention refers to a sewing machine incorporating a programmable control and a low-inertia motor.
The sewing machine in accordance with the present invention comprises two main parts. One part consists of a control system carried out by a microprocessing device together with its accompanying elements, while the other part resides in the specific driving element thereof, consisting in the housing of a low-inertia motor controlled by an electronic controller, whereby a highly effective industrial machine, capable of performing a number of different operations, is obtained; the machine in accordance with the present invention having a surprising improvement in performance when compared with the presently existing automatic sewing machines.
The sewing machine in question is capable of automatically effecting a large variety of sewing operations, the operator not having to act on the control elements thereof since the machine effects all and each one of the operations which have previously been programmed therein or self-learned. With respect to this self-learning characteristic of the machine, it should be stated that for the machine to perform a predetermined sequence of work automatically, the operator should merely perform this sequence of work manually using the machine, so that each one of the sewing operations and phases be automatically recorded in a storage program, the machine therefore being capable of effecting said operations automatically as many times as desired.
Thus, the advantages derived from these characteristics are clear, since the machine releases the operator from having to sew, carrying this out at a greater speed and, naturally, without producing any type of error during sewing.
The control system is based on a main processing and microprocessing unit which processes the instructions of a functioning program stored in a computer, as well as the data supplied by peripheral elements of the machine, such as buttons, ends of stroke, position sensors, etc. This main unit, whose functioning is controlled by a time standard, is joined to two storage blocks consisting of a dynamic computer memory (RAM) and a static computer memory (EPROM).
The dynamic computer memory (RAM) stores the data relating to the carrying out of a predetermined sewing operation to be performed by the sewing machine. The static computer memory, augmented by three computer memories of the (EPROM) type, stores the control program which controls the behaviour of the various elements of the machine.
There are provided, as peripheral elements, a plurality of sensors, optocouplers, ends of stroke, etc. which continuously supply information about the state of the different operative elements of the machine, such as the position of the sewing needle, the housing of the thread cutting element, the position of the presser-bar, the position of the operating pedal of the machine, etc. Therefore, the main processing unit is at all times aware of the situation of the elements it controls.